West Virginia & Regional History Center Newsletter

Volume 38, No. 1
West Virginia University Libraries
Winter 2026

A Letter from the Director

Dear friends,

In 2005, with the relatively new capability to make archival materials available on the web, the West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) launched the online photographs database, West Virginia History OnView. The digital collection was the WVRHC’s first large-scale digital project. Now, 20 years later, the History Center is making another leap forward in regard to digital archives.

In this issue

West Virginia Day 2025: West Virginians in World War II: In Their Own Words

The WVRHC marked West Virginia Day, June 20, 2025, with a program honoring West Virginia veteran, Hershel “Woody” Williams that culminated with the History Center accepting his papers as well as opening a new exhibition on World War II.

History Center Hosts Governor’s Honors Academy

This July, over a hundred rising high school seniors from throughout the state arrived at WVU for the Governor’s Honors Academy. Fifteen of them had the opportunity to spend quality time in the WVRHC for a week-long course in the archives.

Funding secured to digitize folk music collection

The WVRHC received a CLIR grant to digitize recordings from its expansive folk music collection. With this funding, an important collection of early field recordings of folk music will become digitally accessible for the first time.

Remembering our friend Stewart Plein

University Librarian Emerita Stewart Plein passed away on August 16, 2025, after a short illness. Her loss is deeply felt on the campus of WVU and across the Appalachian region. Read more about her contributions.

Welcome to our new archivist and staff

The WVRHC welcomes Rare Book and Print Collection Archivist Rigby Philips and Remote Education Specialist Beth Shaver. Read more and meet our new staff.

Featured New Accessions

Explore our new accessions! From Fawn Valentine (1949-2025), weaver, fiber artist, and preeminent historian of historic quilts in West Virginia, to the records of West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and so much more.

Women's History at the WVRHC

The WVRHC is actively seeking women’s history collections. Since 2017, the West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection project has sought to document the many contributions of women to the history and culture of the state and region. Thanks to a grant from the National Archives, we currently have an archivist, Abigail Moncus, dedicated to arranging and describing women’s collections to make them more discoverable by researchers.

That work has expanded to include women’s history beyond activism to ensure we are preserving a more complete historic record. However, funding for Abigail’s position will expire soon. We are soliciting donations to support a permanent archivist position for women’s collections.

Please contact WVRHC Director Lori Hostuttler if you have questions, want to donate materials, or support the archivist position.

See Abigail's recent article on playwright and theater director Maryat Lee here.